Man on trial accused of killing baby son
It happened in Chard in 2022
A mother has wept in court, as she described coming downstairs to find her four-week-old baby floppy and grey in colour.
Atticus Bartlett died in hospital, after collapsing at the family home in Chard, Somerset, on July 16 2022.
His mother, Evelyn Ballentyne, gave evidence in the trial of Atticus’s father Tony Bartlett at Bristol Crown Court.
Bartlett, 39, denies charges of murder and manslaughter relating to the death of Atticus, who died from brain injuries.
It is alleged that Bartlett, who was working as a postman, shook Atticus violently while alone with him.
Ms Ballentyne told the jury how she came downstairs and heard Atticus making “two gasping noises”.
“If you have ever watched someone pass away, towards the end of their life, they make funny noises and that’s what he did,” she said.
“I then stared at Atticus for a couple of seconds and you could just tell that he had gone grey. He was dead.
“I don’t know if I said ‘he’s dead’ or ‘he’s not breathing’. I screamed.”
Ms Ballentyne said Atticus had been lying face down on his father’s knees and Bartlett “flipped” him over.
“Atticus’s head just flopped back, he wasn’t alive,” she told the court.
She wept as she recalled how Atticus’s body was floppy as he was moved on to his back.
“I just screamed and ran out of the house,” Ms Ballentyne said.
“I thought I rang 999 but I didn’t.”
Prosecuting, Charles Row KC asked Ms Ballentyne how many times she had thought about what happened that night.
She wept and replied: “All the time.”
The court heard Ms Ballentyne previously gave accounts that she had picked Atticus up and gently shaken him to revive him.
However, Ms Ballentyne told the jury this was not the case.
“My memory is very clear now of that night,” she added.
Representing Bartlett, Nigel Power KC suggested Ms Ballentyne had sought to “minimise” her actions – which she denied.
He asked her: “Tony didn’t do anything to harm Atticus, did he?”
Ms Ballentyne replied: “Yes he did.”
Atticus had been cared for by his grandmother, Rachel Donovan and her husband Andrew, earlier in the evening, while Bartlett and Ms Ballentyne went to a pub and comedy club.
Mr Row previously told the jury that Bartlett had consumed up to nine pints of beer and was left to feed Atticus while his partner went upstairs to change at about 11pm.
He alleged that while Ms Ballentyne was upstairs, Bartlett violently shook Atticus so hard he caused severe internal injuries to his brain and spinal cord.
Several of Atticus’s ribs were also cracked, Mr Row told the jury.
After Ms Ballentyne raised the alarm, neighbours and paramedics attended the property.
Atticus was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital by ambulance and later transferred to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
However, his brain damage was so severe that Atticus never breathed for himself again and did not regain consciousness.
He died just before midnight on July 23 2022.
Bartlett, of Axminster, Devon, denies the two charges against him and the trial continues.